Sprint cool to new spectrum auctions

Hanbury said that during Sprint supported incentive spectrum auctions, he thought that the FCC and policymakers should as well be looking at how to carry out auctions in ways that will maintain competitive balance in the wireless industry. In the 2008 auction of the 700MHz band, AT&T and Verizon gobbled up spectrum that they're now using for their LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) networks.

"We don't need more spectrum tomorrow or then and there year however we agree that we need more spectrum in the long term," he said. "If you don't believe me, ask the president, ask Congress, ask the FCC or the tens of thousands of police officers who want more spectrum for a public safety broadband network."

The most spectrum of any single U.S.

Although AT&T has the most spectrum of any single U.S. carrier, the company has maintained that its current spectrum holdings lack 20MHz of contiguous unused spectrum that it needs to deploy a nationwide LTE network. Previously this year AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said his company needed to purchase T-Mobile to have enough "spectrum depth" to launch its upcoming 4G LTE network in many rural areas in the United States, just as parts of West Virginia.